A few late-night notes and thoughts

So, I hope everyone is enjoying our coverage of the Super Bowl. The blog has taken on a different form due to the bigness of the game, with lots of extra stuff being posted here. Let me know what you think, and if there are any other features you would like to see — or if you would like to see more of something in particular.

I haven’t done a lot of extra links of late since we are covering the Broncos on here, as well as posting links to all of our coverage, and posting lots of transcripts. But let me know if you’d like more links.

With that in mind, I thought I would pass along a few I read tonight:

— Here’s NFL.com’s assessment of what was learned at Seahawks practice today. It was interesting to me to read Peter King say it was the fastest practice he has ever been around at a Super Bowl. Those of us who watch the team every day may not notice that since, well, we see it every day. All of the fans who came out during training camp also saw the same pace — I didn’t see today’s workout, but I’d doubt it was any different than the others we have seen all season until now. I watched lots of UW practices when Steve Sarkisian was coach — Sarkisian was obviously a protege of Pete Carroll’s — and those were real similar in tone and style. Chip Kelly I know also practices with a similar pace. But judging by what King wrote, lots of NFL teams must still practice at a little stodgier speed.

— I wouldn’t worry about the Seahawks not having practiced outdoors. It’s been cold in Seattle for a while now, and what people may not realize is that the VMAC indoor practice field is not heated. So it’s really cold in there, too — it’s at least a controlled environment in there, so it’s good when it’s raining. So the Seahawks are plenty used to being in the cold. I don’t see that being an issue, despite the incessant questions about it to players from local media here.

— I liked this breakdown of the game from Bucky Brooks of NFL.com. None of those four points are revolutionary ideas — we’ve discussed all of those throughout the season. But his breakdown of the film adds some good detail. And the point about Harvin probably can’t be underscored enough. Fans are understandably leery of hearing of the potential impact of Harvin, given all of the false starts throughout the season. But Harvin has now met the media three times in the last week and insisted each time that he is good to go. He said Tuesday that the break due to the concussion helped get his legs back into better shape than they were when he played two games earlier this season. Recall that Harvin at less than 100 percent added a lot to the offense. If he’s closer to it now, goes without saying the impact could be even greater. Harvin was on the field for 19 of 35 snaps in the first half against the Saints before he got hurt. So he was heavily in the gameplan. Carroll Tuesday said that Harvin is “in the gameplan” for this week. So that indicates similarly heavy use.

— Fun look at the six best Seattle-Denver games from NFL.com. Hope you saw my story on the rivalry from earlier in the week.

— I promise we will look heavily at Seattle’s future once the season ends — doesn’t seem right to worry much about that now with the Super Bowl looming. But Forbes has a good look at the salary cap issues facing both teams soon. And if nothing else, such stories reinforce embracing what’s happening right now. Seattle appears set up well to stay good for a while. But it’ll get more complicated going forward, and nothing is guaranteed in the volatile world of the NFL.

— Proof that everyone is indeed different — while Marshawn Lynch is making news for trying to avoid the media, Seattle practice squad WR Phil Bates tried his hand at reporting this week.

— There have been lots of stories this week like this on how John Elway’s rant following Denver’s blowout loss to Seattle in the pre-season helped light a fire under the Broncos. Not something anyone knew at the time.

— We’ll do some of this of our own later. But here’s the Associated Press breaking down the matchups.

— The Wall Street Journal says each of these teams are masters of cheating. But one could argue, as Carroll has said often, the trick is to learn to play within what is being called. The story asks where are the flags? Carroll would say that’s the point — if they aren’t calling it, then so be it.